Hospital Sketches
by Sula 74
Summary: Perhaps just a one-off, but hopefully a series of vignettes describing Sakura's life during the time-skip.


Kakashi-sensei smelled _bad_.

Really bad.

Gai-sensei smelled worse, which made sense. He had carried Kakashi-sensei for the better part of their two day rush back to Konoha. Maybe he would take pride in having the more rugged, manly smell; claim it as some sort of victory in one of their silly challenges. Looking at Gai-sensei now, standing grim and uncharacteristically still in the corner, his normally shiny, vibrant (Youthful!) hair hanging in dull clumps, his green leotard torn and dull with dirt and bloodstains, Sakura forgot the smell and focused on what was going on around her.

When Gai-sensei had burst into the hospital with a limp body over his shoulder, he had been directed into the triage room Sakura had been restocking. Only a few months into her apprenticeship with Tsunade-sama, Sakura was allowed only very limited contact with patients, spending most of her time studying or training. Recently, Tsunade-sama had been familiarizing her with the hospital and how it worked, giving her a few easy tasks and strict instructions to watch, learn, and stay out of the way. Startled by the sudden commotion of Gai-sensei and two nurses rushing into her quiet, neatly stocked, clean-smelling space, she was about to slip out of the room and into the fresh air as unobtrusively as possible when she realized just who it was he was quickly but carefully laying out on the hospital bed. Stunned, she stood back against the wall as a medic rushed in. Everyone was talking at once as they assessed their patient, cut away his shirt, hooked up monitors, and tried to start IVs in unsteady veins. The medic noticed her lurking against the wall and barked "Get Tsunade-sama, this is one of hers!"

"Never mind, I'm already here," came a gruff reply as Tsunade brushed past the medic and started examining her patient. "What happened? Medically relevant information only!" she demanded, eyes never leaving the prone form on the bed.

"Battle with Sand missing-nin. Kakashi sustained several minor stab wounds and one major stab to the gut. I treated as well as I could in the field and we started back to Konoha. Kakashi was initially improved and able to travel on his own but his condition worsened over the journey home."

Tsunade nodded in acknowledgement. "Damn Sand and their slow acting poisons! Sakura! Take these blood samples to the lab for a priority toxin screen. Make sure they understand the priority."

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Sakura cried shakily, pulling herself out of her shocked stupor, though still unable to tear her eyes away from the inert form of her former sensei. As she forced herself away from the wall and into motion, she saw Kakashi's body arch and then begin to seizure as Tsunade-sama called out for doses of emergency drugs. Sakura immediately reached for the crash kit of drugs on the nearby shelf, the one whose contents she had replenished just a few moments earlier. She held the kit out to the nurse nearest to her and took the nurse's place, holding her breath while keeping Kakashi's lurching body on the bed and trying desperately to steady his arm, mindful of the precious and delicate IV catheter, while the nurse drew up and injected the life-saving drugs.

Sakura held on tight, waiting until the body beneath her was completely relaxed and limp before allowing her own muscles to loosen. Listening to the reassuring but not quite steady beat of the heart monitor, she slowly straightened, pushing her hair back from her face and taking a deep breath, no longer noticing the sharp smell of unwashed body, old sweat, blood, and illness. As she was turning to grab the blood samples she saw Kakashi's abdomen heave. Thinking it was another seizure, she resumed her place by his right shoulder, ready to hold him again when she heard a faint, wet gurgling sound. One of the nurses shouted "He's vomiting! Roll him! Clear the airway!" Panicking, Sakura realized she was the closest to Kakashi's face. She was in the way. Everyone was working fast, Tsunade pumping lifesaving chakra into him, the medic and one nurse pushing his unconscious body quickly onto it's side, causing his head to loll near the edge of the bed as the other nurse was lowering the bedrail and readying suction. It was organized chaos, and everyone knew their role. Everyone except Sakura.

"Sakura! Move!"

She did, her shisou's voice pushing her into action. She hesitated only the barest fraction of a second, offering up a silent apology to her secretive sensei before grabbing Kakashi's mask, raising her eyes as she tugged it down and away from his face, keeping her eyes diverted, feeling his coarse, dirty hair in between her fingers as she supported his surprisingly hard and surprisingly heavy head, whispering "It's ok, Kakashi-sensei. It's ok, I've got you." The words were like a desperate prayer, both an unconscious plea to make it so and mild reassurance to herself that she could do this. She could help someone.

The smell of vomit joined the circulating smells of the room but Sakura took no notice. Her attention was focused on the heart monitor, watching the small, slightly uneven blips march steadily across the screen, its message still mostly a mystery to her. At a word from the suction nurse the medical team eased Kakashi onto his back, Sakura guiding his head, blindly stroking back his hair with one hand, greasy clumps or no. She tore her eyes away from the monitor and looked to her teacher. She was surprised to see Tsunade already looking at her, a small, proud smile quirking her lips despite the urgency of the situation.

"Well done, Sakura," she said softly, before turning brusquely back to her patient. "Now, don't forget the blood. I need those lab results STAT."


End file.
